Job growth in early transition: Comparing two paths *

Abstract

Small start-up firms are the engine of job creation in early transition. We ask about differences in their growth across two different transition economies: Estonia, which experienced rapid destruction of pre-existing firms, and the Czech Republic, which reduced the old sector gradually. We find that the majority of job growth corresponds to within-industry reallocation. The within-industry growth of small start-up firms is similar in the two countries, in line with the convergence to Western industry firm-size distributions. We also find similar patterns in the evolution of wage differentials between start-ups and old firms and small differences in the extent of low-wage employment in start-ups across the two transition paths. JEL Classifications: J2, J3, J4, L1, O1, P2.